A.M. #43: Colorado

Preface: This post was written as horrific images from Boston rolled across the hotel television screen. Thoughts and prayers to New England today.

That was quite the day in Columbus hockey, no?

First, Buckeyes coach Mark Osiecki was fired by Ohio State. Much more on that in Tuesday’s Dispatch.

Second, Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was named the NHL No. 1 star of the week. It is the third weekly ‘star’ honor for Bobrovsky this season. He was 3-0 with an 0.97 goals-against average and .971 save percentage and pitched his fourth shutout of the season in wins over San Jose (4-0 on Tuesday), St. Louis (4-1 on Friday) and Minnesota (3-2 in a shootout on Saturday). Bobrovsky was also the league’s No. 3 star for the month of March and his the first Blue Jacket to win three weekly star honors in a single season.

Third, the Edmonton Oilers fired general manager Steve Tambellini, replaced him with vice president of hockey operations Craig MacTavish and promoted former Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson to MacTavish’s position. Howson has been working as a scout for the Oilers since March 12. He was fired by the Blue Jackets on Feb. 12.

Much more is in store tonight in snowy Denver, where the Jackets will continue their playoff push against the Avalanche. The Jackets skated, sans injured center Artem Anisimov, in the Pepsi Center this morning. As expected, forward Brandon Dubinsky moved back to his natural center spot. Here’s how they will line up tonight:

F1: Vinny Prospal-Mark Letestu-Marian Gaborik

F2: R.J. Umberger-Ryan Johansen-Nick Foligno

F3: Matt Calvert-Brandon Dubinsky-Cam Atkinson

F4: Blake Comeau-Derek MacKenzie-Jared Boll

Colton Gillies and defenseman Tim Erixon will be scratched. You already know who will be between the pipes.

“Bob earned it,” Richards said of his goalie’s weekly honor. “We cracked and had lots of holes the last game (at Minnesota) but Bob was the glue.”

Bobrovsky was far from his best in his previous start at Colorado, a 4-0 loss on Jan. 24. That might as well have been last season, Richards said, because it feels like it was.

“Even the games that we played two weeks ago feel like they were months ago,” Richards said. “That’s just the way this year has gone, with the physical, mental and emotional demand. It’s not just the players. It’s the coaches, trainers and everyone involved.”

Colorado was still mathematically alive for the playoffs before the Jackets ended their run with a 5-2 win in Pepsi Center in their penultimate game last season. The last-place Avs were eliminated from contention last night, but Richards said they are playing with confidence and would like nothing more than to damage the hopes of the Jackets this time around. The Avs are 2-0-1 since goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere publicly chastised his team after a loss in Calgary last week.

“My message to the team was that they are in the same position we were last year,” Richards said. “It’s easy for them to go out and just play. They have some confidence right now. After their goaltender came out and challenged their group, you can see how the players kind of went out and backed him up.”

Side dishes

--Jackets winger Vinny Prospal has 1-3-4 in his past three games and points in six of his past eight (2-6-8).

--Richards said there was no need to have a discussion with rookie defenseman Dalton Prout following Prout’s cross-checking penalty on Devin Setoguchi with 3:59 remaining in Minnesota on Saturday> The Wild scored the tying goal 45 seconds later. “Nothing needed to be said,” Richards said. “You could see it on his face. He’s been so good in so many areas for us. It’s unfortunate because he’s done so many good things. When other guys have taken penalties he’s gone out and killed the penalties. When he gets put in that position, that’s when we have to dig down for our teammate and kill off that two minutes.”

--If they Jackets (19-16-7, 45 points) are to get to 54 points, the likely playoff bar, they can afford only one regulation loss in the in final six games. That is not much of a cushion, defenseman James Wisniewski said. “We want to win every game. Every single one matters, whether you’re in or out of (a playoff spot). It doesn’t matter.”

--Avs forward Chuck Kobasew will replace Mark Olver in the Colorado lineup tonight. Kobasew had missed eight games because of a back injury. Giguere will start in goal. He is 15-7-3 (2.06/.926) with two shutouts against the Jackets.

--Avs coach Joe Sacco said Colorado will embrace its spoiler role. He pointed out that Columbus beat Colorado twice in the final weeks of last season and “put a damper” on the Avs’ postseason aspirations. “Hopefully tonight we can do a little bit of damage to their playoff hopes,” Sacco said.

--Richards had no update on Anisimov (head), who did no skating today. Does he hope to get him back before the end of the road trip? “We’d love to,” Richards said. “But I can’t answer to his status.”

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